Minutes:
The Leader submitted his report to the Council on the following matters:
(a) his initial meetings with the new Chief Executive where they had discussed fostering an inclusive Council. To that end, the Leader advised that senior officers would now be holding monthly briefing meetings with Chairs and Vice-Chairs so that they could discuss policy options and then relay information to their committee members. The Chief Executive was keen to ensure that a ‘no surprises’ culture was developed so that information was not read first hand in the local press;
(b) the reinstatement of the ‘patch walks’ on the wards and the extension of this to other wards;
(c) he had invited Councillor Holmes and Councillor Illingworth to put forward their ideas on improvements to the Planning process;
(d) the Police & Crime Commissioner would be in attendance at a public meeting on 26 October at Parkside. The Chief Constable, the LPU Commander, the Probation Service, and other key players had also been invited;
(e) improving connectivity with Nottingham: improvements to the areas infrastructure were integral to the significant growth aspirations for Melton. Positive progress was being made towards the delivery of the distributor road but rail connectivity was also vital. The Council had recently submitted a response to the East Midlands Rail Franchise Consultation setting out its opposition to the potential loss of Melton’s direct connection to London. The Council had also promoted its belief that improving rail connectivity to Nottingham was vital it the growth aspirations were to be achieved, as well as enabling Melton to benefit from HS2. The Chief Executive had been asked to open a dialogue with relevant parties about the potential to realise this ambition and support in principle had been secured from Sir Alan Duncan MP;
(f) one of his priorities as Leader was the Council’s staff; the Council had recently lost a number of senior staff to the detriment of the organisation and he was concerned that with bold ambitions for the future, the Council could only achieve this if it attracted, developed and retained good people. An early focus and priority for the new Chief Executive was to understand the current culture and approach to recruitment and retention to ensure that the Council was seen as a great place to work. A staff workshop to develop ideas had already taken place and further workshops would follow involving staff from across the organisation. It was hoped to bring forward a new Workforce Strategy in the next few months setting out a number of measures to make the Council more attractive to prospective candidates and also to retain the best people. In order to increase his connection with colleagues across the organisation, he would be arranging an informal meet and greet to get to know the various teams better;
[Councillor Greenow left the meeting at this point.]
(g) the Council had been going through a procurement process to assess the viability of a new leisure village at the former King Edward VII site on Burton Road. Results from this process were currently being reviewed and it was anticipated that a report would be brought before the Council early in the New Year. In the interim, the Council was taking stock of the situation and exploring opportunities to gain support from other partners to this project. Discussions had taken place with Sport England, the Local Enterprise Partnership and Loughborough University on the potential to collaborate on developing an exciting offer for the area;
[Councillor Greenow here returned to the meeting.]
(h) the Council had volunteered to put itself forward for a Corporate Peer Challenge and the list of those external colleagues who would be invited to become part of the Peer Challenge team was being finalised. The dates were still to be confirmed but it was likely to be 11 to 13 December and Members would have the opportunity to take part and feed in their views about where the Council is and where it was going. He emphasised that this exercise would be at no cost to the Council and that the results would be published.
The Leader’s report was noted.